


Male Colours

by akabrokenarrow



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coming of Age, Father Figures, M/M, Questioning, time skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 03:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12472832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akabrokenarrow/pseuds/akabrokenarrow
Summary: Naruto grows up.Jiraiya observes.





	Male Colours

Teaching Naruto meditative techniques was hard enough, but normally it wasn’t any harder after making Naruto run 50 laps. Naruto kept scrunching his face up and fidgeting, and Jiraiya wasn’t sure if Naruto was doing it on purpose, but he wasn’t going to reach enlightenment if his mind was completely elsewhere. Maybe it was time to call it a day. 

Jiraiya clapped loudly, bringing Naruto out of his trance-slash-hormonal-freakout. “Alright, that’s enough. We’re ending the meditation early today.” 

Naruto looked up. “Huh? Really?” His nonchalant response made Jiraiya wonder how much of his head had actually been in the clouds in the first place. 

“Yeah,” Jiraiya said, tossing him a packet of toad food. “Let’s take a break. You’ve been working hard.”

Naruto fumbled with the bag. “But! But! Pervy Sage, we still have so much to do! Like chakra control, and more laps and--”

“What’s gotten you so motivated? Girl at home?”

Naruto nodded quickly, not meeting his eyes as he opened his second lunch. 

“She’s a good influence on you,” Jiraiya said, but Naruto didn’t reply, his mouth already full with food.

 

***

An unfortunate side effect of Naruto going through puberty was the growth spurt.

He’d practically grown three inches overnight, and suddenly his trusty orange jumpsuit ended far above his ankles. His shoulders were becoming so broad that he was practically going to explode out of his clothes any day now. So Jiraiya dragged him to the closest town to pick out new clothes.

They came out with Jiraiya’s wallet half empty and two popsicles. \

Naruto tugged on his new orange and black jacket. 

 

***

In the middle of nowhere, the night sky stretched far beyond their reach. Jiraiya liked to look up and wonder what exactly was out there, beyond the moon and the stars and the planets until he reached the limit of human imagination. Naruto was stargazing too, but his chakra felt bristly, vulnerable, even, and that too was another mystery that Jiraiya wanted to investigate. 

“Thinking about your girlfriend?” Jiraiya teased. 

Naruto’s shoulders hunched up for a few seconds, and then relaxed. “No,” he said. “I’m thinking,” his chakra got rough again, “I’m thinking about how I’m going to bring him--I mean, Sasuke, back.” 

“We’ve talked about this,” Jiraiya said, straightening up. “Listen, kid--” 

Naruto punched the ground hard, hard enough to make Jiraiya jump a little and creating a hole large enough to possibly displace a colony of ants. “You don’t get it. You’ll never get it. I have to bring Sasuke home, no matter what.”

“Kid, I get it more than you’ll ever know. You can’t dedicate your life chasing what’s already gone.” 

“But he’s not gone!” Naruto was standing up now, towering over Jiraiya, and geez, when did he start to look so much like his father? “You weren’t there at the Valley. And you don’t know Sasuke. He’s coming home.” His voice was louder now, harsher, but that didn’t scare Jiraiya. Not when he remembered Minato-sensei’s scoldings so clearly in his mind.

He stood up too, still easily towering over Naruto. “Why? Why are you so convinced that you can save him?” 

Naruto’s raging chakra stilled in a heartbeat. He gaped for a moment, staring blankly into Jiraiya’s eyes before looking away. His hands were trembling and he was starting to sniffle, and even though Jiraiya wasn’t scared of anything Naruto threw at him, he was scared of getting yelled at in the afterlife for making his sensei’s beloved son cry. 

“Because--because he’s my best friend,” Naruto finally let out, and Jiraiya put a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

Naruto met his eyes again and Jiraiya flinched. 

Oh God, this had to be the oldest one in the book. Naruto’s eyes looked so vulnerable, so confused that Jiraiya had to suppress a sigh and the desire to shake him out of his mind until Naruto finally got it. Of course Naruto would have more than platonic feelings towards Sasuke Uchiha; they were the only kids in Konoha who grew up truly understanding what it meant to be alone. Naruto could complain and whine about him all he wanted--Jiraiya was a writer and trained to read beneath the surface. And what other way did they have to let out their emotions? It’s not like anyone had bothered to teach them how. The consequence was their star-crossed situation, Naruto sulking the night away longing for something he couldn’t even comprehend the depths of yet. 

“Go to bed early. You look like you need your sleep,” Jiraiya said softly. 

“I don’t need sleep.” Naruto crossed his arms and jutted his chin up.

“Well, I have work to do, so you’d better set up your bedroll fast,” Jiraiya grumbled, turning his back and fumbling around for a paintbrush and a scroll. 

He sighed and got to work. He wondered if Orihime and Hikoboshi were ever so dramatic. 

 

***

Jiraiya had the basic concept of the plot down. It’s not like he had to stray too much from reality. Two boys, orphaned and alone (Jiraiya swallowed down his guilt) constantly trying to better the other while remaining attached to the hip, while both of them harboured unrequited feelings.

Jiraiya didn’t know much about Sasuke Uchiha. But judging from the rest of his family, and from tidbits he got from Naruto, he was brooding, and annoying, and a huge know-it-all, and the world practically revolved around him. Still, he needed to do more research, and a bit more name changing. Thankfully, the best source around was sleeping only a few feet away from him. 

 

***

“Naruto, it’s time for your toad food.”

“Hell no, I hate that stuff!” Naruto yelled. 

 

“Tell me about Sasuke,” Jiraiya said. 

Naruto stiffened. “What do you want to know?” 

Jiraiya shrugged. “Anything that comes to mind. I’m curious.” 

Naruto stared at him, eyes like slits. Then his body relaxed. “Sasuke is the most annoying person I know,” he said. 

 

***

The problem with travelling for weeks on end far from civilization was the grime. Jiraiya had gotten somewhat used to the smell of dirt and sweat and musk, but enough was enough. The great thing about stumbling across a village was not just the opportunity to bathe, but to peek. 

“Naruto,” Jiraiya said after having cleaned himself and relaxed, “it’s time for a new lesson about the Will of Fire.” 

Naruto crossed his arms in protest. “Go to the women’s bath yourself, you old pervert.” His eyes were fixed in the corner, on a pale man with dark hair. 

Jiraiya stood up and shrugged. “Your loss.” 

 

***

It was nearing two and a half years since they started their journey. They’d been on ten shopping sprees for new clothes, gone through double their food budget (and that was without the special sake budget) and, best of all, Naruto had surpassed all of Jiraiya’s expectations by leaps and bounds. He was more than strong: he had maturity and willpower and even a bit of wisdom. Jiraiya couldn’t be prouder of his student, his godson, who was sitting across from him on a tree branch and looking far beyond his sixteen years. 

“Let’s celebrate,” Jiraiya said, getting a bottle of sake and two cups out from his pack. 

Naruto scowled. “Technically, I can’t drink that stuff yet, you know.” 

“Aw, c’mon, nobody needs to know except me. Besides, you deserve it.” He began to pour. 

Naruto considered the glass in his hand carefully. Jiraiya waited with expectant eyes. Naruto shotgunned it, and Jiraiya almost yelped. 

“Hey, hey, not so fast!” he yelped.

“Iruka-sensei would kill me for this, you know,” Naruto said, holding out his now empty glass.

“I know,” Jiraiya said, but he was more concerned about Minato and Kushina killing him in the afterlife.

A bottle later, Jiraiya was barely feeling a buzz and Naruto was helplessly lying on his side, staring off into the distance again. He’d spent some time rolling around and laughing (and Jiraiya had to summon Gamabuta just to prevent him from falling off the tree) but now he was quiet. The Nine Tails would protect Naruto from a hangover, Jiraiya knew, so he wasn’t too concerned, but it was strange seeing Naruto so quiet. 

“Do you ever feel like your heart’s so big that it could burst?” Naruto said suddenly. 

His chance to strike. “Yes,” Jiraiya said, “when I think about beautiful women.” 

Naruto frowned. “I’m not talking about that. I mean, like, um...Hey, stop asking me about girls already!” 

Jiraiya raised his eyebrow for effect. “So, who are you thinking about right now, Naruto?” 

Naruto buried his face in his hands and rolled around a bit. Jiraiya swore that he saw him giggle. 

“Your girlfriend?” Jiraiya prodded. 

Naruto shot up immediately. “Hey, no, it’s not like that! Not at all! Ew! Gross! I just told you to stop asking me about that!” 

Jiraiya put on a mock-thoughtful expression this time. “Funny, because I remember Iruka-sensei telling me about a certain incident in the Academy...about you...and a ‘friend’.” 

“NO WAY WOULD HE TELL YOU ABOUT THAT!” 

“I heard it made Sakura very upset.” 

“SHUT UP!” 

“All of the rest of the girls too.” 

“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, OKAY?” 

“You never denied that you were thinking about him, though,” Jiraiya said. “About Sasuke.” 

“SASUKE’S NOT A GIRL!” 

“Right, right. But you told me that you weren’t thinking about a girl.”

Jiraiya poured another glass.

 

***

“Pervy Sage, this book is boring!” Naruto groaned, waving around Jiraiya’s precious manuscript like it was a used tissue.

Jiraiya’s whole body stiffened. Apparently Naruto hadn’t learned any manners in their three year journey together. Nor an appreciation for true art. “You just don’t get it.” 

“Seriously, I can’t get past more than ten pages! Why does Kakashi-sensei always read this stuff anyway?”

“That’s enough,” Jiraiya said. But he was laughing to himself inside. “Maybe you can try it again when you’re older and wiser.” 

“Yeah, right. I hate this sappy, pervy shit! And why’d you have to make it star two boys? That's weird!”

Jiraiya shrugged. “Trying to diversify the series.”

 

***

Walking into the village gates, Naruto said, “You know I’m bringing Sasuke back.” 

“And you know that I still think you’re wrong.”

“You’ll be the one who’ll be proven wrong,” Naruto growled. “I made a promise. To myself. He’s coming back home.” 

Jiraiya nodded. “I’m proud of you, Naruto.” 

Naruto straightened up. 

“In the course of our training, you’ve learned how to become an even bigger fool.”

Naruto looked at him, confused. Jiraiya handed him a book with a blue cover. Make Out Tactics, it was called. Jiraiya thought that it was his finest work yet. 

“Give this to Kakashi when you see him, all right?”

Naruto smiled bright like the sun, and Jiraiya’s gut told him that everything was going to be okay.


End file.
